Device for opening and closing doors for garages, &amp;c.



R. M. WALLACEAND E. 1. SCOTT. DEVICE FOR OPENING AND CLOSING DOORS FDRGARAGES, 1,360,479

&c.

Patented Nov. 30, 1920.

APPLICATION FILED IAN.2, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

|...IIIIIIIFII1I INN .Ig INNNI R. M. WALLACE AND E. J. SCOTT.

DEVICE Foa OPENING AND CLOSING Doons FOB GARAGES, ac.

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UNITED STATES APATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT M. WALLACE AND EDWARD lSCO'IT, OF SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA.

DEVICE FOR OPENING AND CLOSING DOORS FOR GARAGES, &c.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented N ov. 30, 1920.

Application 1ed January 2, 1920. Serial No. 348,930.

To all whom it may concer-a f Be it known that we, Roniucr M. VALLAOnand EDWARD J. Soo'r'r, citizens of the United States, residing at SantaAna, in the county of Orange and State oi California, have inventedcertain new and useful .mprovements in Devices for Opening and ClosingDoors for Garages, &c.; and we do declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

This invention relates to improvements in devices for opening andclosing sliding doors, and it has more particular reference to a devicewhich is especially designed for opening doors of garages, stables, orother buildings in which vehicles are kept, although it is not to berestricted to such use.

The principal Object of the invention is to provide a device which is ofsuch construction and arrangement, that it may be readily and easilyconnected with sliding doors rof a garage, a part' of the door`actuating device being permitted to project above ythe `ground at anydesired place in the path of the vehicle, so that when the front wheelof the vehicle strikes this projecting part, the

doors. of the garage willbe automatically moved to open position, thusobviating the necessity of the driverleaving the car to open the doorsas is customary. .l

Other Objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent duringthe course of the following description.

In the accompanying drawing forming a.

part of this specification and inwhich like numerals are employed' todesignate `like parts throughout the same,

Figure l is an elevation of a pair of sliding doors equipped with ourimproved operating mechanism, looking from the outside of the garage. f

. Fig. 2 is a section on the plane of the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, looking inthe direction of the arrows.

FigfB is a vertical section on the plane of the line 3 3 of Fig. '1.`

Figli is a 'view like Fig. l, looking from the interior of the garage,the doors being shown in open position. i

Fig. 5 is a sectiononthe plane of the line 5 5 of Fig. 2. i Y

'Fig 6 is a detail perspective of one" of the operating levers.V

In carrying out our Ainvention we employ' a crank shaft which isdisposed at right angles to the doors and is in turn operated by alongitudinally movable member which is disposed in the path of thevehicle and is adapted to be engaged by one of the wheels of thevehicle.

Referring specifically to the drawings, l indicates a portion of agarage or other building which is equipped with a pair oit sliding doors2 mounted in any suitable manner upon a track 3. Our operating mechanismcomprises a pair of substantially T-shaped levers 4 connected togetheradja cent their lower ends by means of a link 5 which is of suchconstruction and is so connected to these'levers that it causes them tomove together, that is, when one lever is moved, the otherlever willalso be moved by reason yof this link. Each lever includes a weightedhead 6 which is. adapted to be dislposed between a pair of shoulders 7carried against one of the'battens '7' on each door.

For instance,.as Vshown in Fig. l the heads bear against the meetingbattens kwhen the doors arein closed position and they are moved to aposition to engage the opposite battens when the doors are in openposition as shown ,in Fig. 4. Such action of `the levers is due` to thefactr that the heads carried thereby are made'of lead or some other vheavy material, and when they pass a verticalA position they drop eitherone way ,or the other by gravity against one ofthe bat- ,-,te`ns andthus serveto move the door in a `direction"according` to the directionwhich p the: levers fall. .OneV ofthe levers is pivoted, asfshown at 8,at yits lower endto a suitable support, ysuch as forinstance a pluralityof boards which are placedv in the ground. On the other hand, the 'otherlever is provided with anon-circular aperture 9 adjacent its lower .endthrough which the flat-i`aced portion 10 of lthe crank shaft 11 extends,thus serving to swing the lever either to the left or the .right whenthe` crank shaft is rotated. The crank sha-ft and other mechanism foroperating the levers 4i is housed in a. suitable supporting structurewhich we have indicated' at 12, said structure being composed of boards,bricks, or any other suitable means placed below the surface of theground. Crank shaft 11 is journaled at its opposite ends in' this abovementioned supporting structure 12. This crank shaft differs inconstruction from those commonly used in engines and the like, as it ispreferably made from a single heavy bar and is bent laterally as shownat 13 and 14 and is connected by an obliquev portion 115 with which thevehicle operated actuating member 16 ctr-acts. and causes the shaft torotate, which in turn rocks the levers 4 which operate the doors. Member16 may be of any' suitable 'formation and may eoact with the crank shaftin any suitable manner, but Iprefer to employ a substantially U-shapedframe 17 which is pivote'd upon a shaft 18 extending trans- 'verse ofthe crank shaft and carried by the supporting structure 12. Between thefree ends of this' U-shaped frame 17, I attach, in

any suitable manner, a roller 19 which is designed to engage the portion15 'of the crank shaft and cause it to rotate. This member 16 is `sodesigned and is so pivoted o'n the shaft 18 that a portion thereofextends above the surface of the ground, and this portion is adapted tovbe engaged by one ofthe frontY wheels of the automobile, and swung onits pivot longitudinally of the crank shaft.

The member 16 will be positioned in the path' of the automobile enteringa garage. When the doors are closed, the heads' of the levers 4; bearagainst the meeting battens of the doors and the'crank shaft 11 is inthe position shown in full lines in Figs. 1 and 2.

When in this position the roller bears on the portion 15 at'l aV pointsomewhat close to the laterally bent portion 18. In approaching theentrance' of the garage, the left front wheel of the vehicle` will comeinto engagement with the portion of the U-sha'ped frame 17 whichprojects above the siirface of the ground, andwhen it'is set into notionit will move in a direction longitudinallyof the crank shaft 11 and theroller 19 will ride upwardly on the now inclined portion 15' of theshaft andcause it to rotate ina direction from right to fleft until itassumes the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2. Such rotation ofthe crank shaft will also cause one of the levers l which isv keyedthereto to swing away from the batteri 7, with which it is now engaged,toward the unengaged hatten. As soon as this swinging levert-8 reaches avertical position it will swing by gravity against the unengaged hatten,striking it hard enough to force the doors apart or to open position.Inasnit-ichn as these levers l1 are connected by the link 5 the samemotion will be imparted to both levers, that is, they will move in adirection away from each other. lVhen the owner leaves the garage, hewill grasp the member 16 and move it in a direction opposite to thatljust specified, thus causing the crank shaft to revolve to its normalposition, whereby the doors will be moved to closed position. 1n anapparatus of the kind described it will not be necessary for the crankshaft to rotate very much, because soon as the crank shaft rotatesenough to l ring the levers to a vertical position, it will have nofurther action o n said levers as they, from that point on, move bygravity and open the door without further help of the crank shaft.

While we have described our device as being especially adapted to beused in connection with the opening and closing of garage doors, wedesire it to be understood that it may also be employed in connectionwith any other type of sliding doors. ln a device of the above mentionedconstruction it will be seen that it will be operated solely by means ofthe vehicle, and with such a device it will not be necessary for thedriver to leave the car to open the doors as is customary. yOur deviceis simple in' construction, highly efficient inv use, and is of suchconstruction that it may be readily installed for use on sliding doorsof any construction without changing the construction of the door orframework upon which it is mounted.

It is to be understood that the form of our invention herein shown anddescribed isI` to be taken as a preferred form of the same and thatvarious minor changes in the shape, size, and arrangement of parts maybe resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention or thescope" of the subioined claims.

We claim: l

In' a door actuating device, in combination, sliding doors, a lever anda link structure operatively engageable with the doors, a support, acrank shaft journaled at its opposite ends in said support and rigidlyconnected to one of the' levers, and means movable' longitudinally ofthe crank and en* gageable therewith to rotate it, said means includinga portion extending above the ground'to beJ engaged by vehicle wheel.

2. In a door actuating device, in combination, slidablc doors, Va linkand lever structure engageable with said doors, a supporting structuredisposed at right angles to the doors, a crank shaft journaled in saidsup` porting structure and rigidly connected with one ofsaid levers, avrod disposed transversely of the support, a substantially yU- shanedframe pivoted on's'aid rod, a portion of the frame extending above theground, a roller carried by' the free ends of the frame and engageablewith the crank shaft, whereby when the frame is swung longitudinally ofthe crank shaft the roller will engage said shaft and rotate it.

A closure actuating device, in combination, a sliding door provided onone side along its vertical edges with spaced strips, a plate secured toand extending transversely across the outer faces of the strips, a base,a lever pivoted at its lower end to the latter, said lever beingprovided at its upper end with a weighted' T-head disposed between thedoor and plate and also between said strips, it having a limitedmovement between the latter' and normally bearing against one of themand being held in proper position by the plate, and means to actuate thelever so that when it passes a certain vertical position it will fall bygravity against the unengaged strip and automatically open the door.

4. A closure operating device, in combination, a pair of sliding doorsincluding spaced vertical strips arranged along their vertical edges, abase disposed below the lower edges of the doors, a pair ofleverspivoted at their lower ends to said base and having their upperends arranged between the strips 0n the door, means carried by thestrips for confining the last named ends of the levers between them, arock shaft t0 which one of the levers is rigidly secured, a connectinglink having its opposite ends curved laterally in opposite directions,the downturned end being pivoted to the lower end of one of the leversbetween the latters point of connection with said base, and the upturnedend being pivotally connected to the other lever at a point above itspivotal connection with the base, -and vehicle actuated means coperatingwith the shaft for actuating it.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands.

ROBERT M. WALLACE. EDWARDJ. SCOTT.

